1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to 2-mercaptothiazole which is useful as an intermediate of medicines and agricultural chemicals.
2. Prior Art
As a conventional method for preparing 2-mercaptothiazole by reacting a dithiocarbamate salt with chloroacetaldehyde, there are described methods in literatures (1) Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr., 1948 (1967) and (2) Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr., 2863 (1968). In literature (1), 2-mercaptothiazole can be prepared with the yield of 55% by adding a chloroacetaldehyde solution to a dithiocarbamate salt solution. In literature (2), 2-mercaptothiazole can be prepared with the yield of 70% by adding chloroacetaldehyde and ammonium dithiocarbamate to an acidic dithiocarbamate salt solution at the same time.
However, either of these methods is an industrially unsatisfied method for preparing 2-mercaptothiazole, since they result in the low yield of 2-mercaptothiazole and in addition thereto a polymeric product separation of which is difficult is by-produced in the reaction system.